Central American Coffee Bean Flavor Characteristics | Guatemala Finca Ceylan Estate | Single-Origin Coffee Beans

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Property Characteristics

Farm Name: Finca Ceylan

Region: Atitlan

Country: GUATEMALA, Central America

Altitude: 1,100-1,600 meters

Coffee Characteristics

Variety: Caturra, Catuai

Processing System: Fully washed and dried on patio

Grade: SHB

Appearance: 17-18 screen

Aroma/Flavor: Hazelnut, grapes, rose, chamomile, almonds, milk chocolate, raisins, honey

Acidity: Lime, blackberry, plum, a bright and prominent modern fruit acidity

Complexity and Other: Lemon tea flavor, multiple fruit notes of cherry and apple, a clean and clear outline, and a candied almond fragrance in the aftertaste that provides a nice finish

Overall Style Attributes: Belongs to the fruit-flavored sweetness school, with a smooth mouthfeel and interwoven sweet and sour notes

Over the past century, coffee has carried Guatemala's economy. There are an estimated 125,000 producers locally, making coffee the country's main export and 40 percent of exported agricultural products. As many as 20 of the country's 22 provinces grow coffee, with almost every region producing beans. 98 percent is shade-grown, and it is almost exclusively Arabica. The main sub-varieties include Bourbon, Typica, Caturra, Catuai, Pache and Pacamara.

Guatemala itself is worth knowing better. High altitude and 300 distinct microclimates, combined with stable rainfall and fertile, mineral-rich soil, make it the most ideal coffee-growing country in Central America. Since the early 1990s, Anacafe pioneered the division of eight different regions that produce high mountain hard beans (S.H.B) based on coffee characteristics, growing climate, soil quality and altitude: the Acatenango valley, Antigua, Atitlan, Coban, the Fraijanes plateau, Huehuetenango, Nuevo Oriente and the San Marcos volcanic region. The main harvest season runs from December to March of the following year, and higher-altitude regions like Huehuetenango can harvest until April. Once harvesting and processing finish, shipments go out, usually between April and July.

Finca Ceylan was purchased by the Echeverria family in the Atitlan region in 1870. The coffee grows on volcanic gravel soil, cultivated alongside crops such as melons and pineapples, which is a requirement for Rainforest Alliance certified beans. The farm sits at roughly 1,000-1,500 meters altitude. (Note: Rainforest Alliance certified beans must be intercropped with multiple agricultural products within the growing area.) The local average temperature is about 20 degrees Celsius. Pure water washing is used to clean the green beans, wastewater is collected and settled, and the residue is used as natural fertilizer, establishing a self-sufficient system that avoids polluting river basins. The surrounding rivers and forest lands are preserved as important ecosystems.

Finca Ceylan employs only local residents. The owner provides housing for employees, a clean drinking water supply and schools for employees' children, forming a kind of utopia.

FrontStreet Coffee: a roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans, while also providing online store services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A clean, fully washed coffee like this Guatemalan is exactly what FrontStreet Coffee's washed lineup is built around. Water processing itself is a traditional way of handling coffee cherries: flotation, depulping, a soak to ferment and remove the mucilage, then washing or further soaking, drying and hulling. Spending that long in water drives chemical changes inside the bean and consumes much of its simple sugar, so washed coffee tends to keep more of the bean's own aroma while showing bright fruit acidity, cleanliness and freshness.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe cooperative lot is a fine example. Smallholder Yirgacheffe farmers deliver their cherries to a cooperative for centralized processing, and this lot from the Worka area is known for particularly precise, clean results. The washed process draws out jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity, and a light-to-medium roast adds green tea and honey notes, making it suited to pour-over, cold brew and espresso.

Kenya is the other benchmark for washed coffee, and FrontStreet's Kenya Little Tomato is a well-known representative, using Kenya's characteristic double-washing to push the juice character to its limit, with cherry tomato, smoked plum, snow pear, black plum and brown sugar aromas and a sweet-sour, juicy body. For a low-acid, full-bodied contrast, FrontStreet's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 is washed and shows the pure, balanced notes of hazelnut, cream, chocolate and caramel, with no single flavor dominating or missing.